Anonymous social communications

ABSTRACT

An anonymous or ad hoc communication is established between unknown contacts. For example, in today&#39;s mobile communications environment, there are many instances in which a user of smart phone may wish to send a message to an unknown user&#39;s smartphone. The anonymous or ad hoc communication thus allows messaging with an unknown user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/005,040 filed Jan. 25, 2016 and since issued as U.S. Pat. No.9,961,064, which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/086,873filed Nov. 21, 2013 and since issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,277,573, withboth applications incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

There are some instances when a user would like to send another user abrief message, but the user does not know contact information of theother user. In other words, the user would like to send a message to anunknown user. For example, the user may be driving on a road and sees asafety issue of another vehicle in front of the user's vehicle, e.g.,something is trapped in the vehicle's door, something is falling out ofthe vehicle's trunk, and the like.

Currently, the only way to try and notify the unknown user about thepotential safety issue is to speed up next to the vehicle, obtain thedriver's attention and yell out the window. This may not be receivedwarmly by the other driver and may in fact create a safety issue for theuser who has to match the speed of the other vehicle to relay themessage.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, the present disclosure discloses a method,computer-readable storage device and apparatus for establishing an adhoc communication with an unknown contact. For example, the methodreceives an authentication token from a recipient endpoint device forauthentication of an unsolicited message from a sender endpoint device,wherein the recipient endpoint device is an unknown contact to thesender endpoint device and the unsolicited message is sent over an opencommunications protocol, authenticates the authentication token, andsends a confirmation that the authentication token is authenticated tothe recipient endpoint device to allow the recipient endpoint device toestablish a connection to the sender endpoint device to begin the ad hoccommunication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The essence of the present disclosure can be readily understood byconsidering the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a communications network of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example flowchart of a method for establishing anad hoc communications with an unknown contact;

FIG. 3 illustrates another example flowchart of a method forestablishing an ad hoc communications with an unknown contact;

FIG. 4 illustrates yet another example flowchart of a method forestablishing an ad hoc communications with an unknown contact; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a high-level block diagram of a general-purposecomputer suitable for use in performing the functions described herein.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common tothe figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates generally to establishing a communicationbetween endpoint devices and, more particularly, to a method,computer-readable storage device and apparatus for establishing an adhoc communication with an unknown contact. As discussed above, there aresome instances when a user would like to send another user a briefmessage, but the user does not know the contact information of the otheruser. In other words, the user would like to send a message to anunknown user. For example, the user may be driving on a road and sees asafety issue of another vehicle in front of the user's vehicle, e.g.,something is trapped in the vehicle's door, something is falling out ofthe vehicle's trunk, and the like.

One embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method,computer-readable storage device and apparatus to allow a user toestablish an ad hoc communication with an unknown contact. For example,the user may be authenticated using a varying level of differentauthentication options and the unknown contact may then decide to eitheraccept or deny the message. In one embodiment, the message may becreated and transmitted using open short range communication protocols(e.g., Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, near field communications, other radiofrequency (RF) communications, Wi-Fi, infrared communications (e.g.,IrDA), and the like) and the communications network may provide anoption to continue the ad hoc communications via a cellular network ifthe two users fall out of range of the open broadcasting communicationprotocol.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting one example of a communicationsnetwork 100. For example, the communication network 100 may be any typeof communications network, such as for example, a traditional circuitswitched network (e.g., a public switched telephone network (PSTN)) or apacket network such as an Internet Protocol (IP) network (e.g., an IPMultimedia Subsystem (IMS) network), an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)network, a wireless network, a cellular network (e.g., 2G, 3G, and thelike), a long term evolution (LTE) network, and the like related to thecurrent disclosure. It should be noted that an IP network is broadlydefined as a network that uses Internet Protocol to exchange datapackets.

In one embodiment, the communications network 100 may include a corenetwork 102. The core network 102 may include an application server (AS)104 and a database (DB) 106. The AS 104 may be deployed as a hardwaredevice embodied as a general purpose computer (e.g., the general purposecomputer 500 as illustrated in FIG. 5). In one embodiment, the AS 104may perform the methods and functions described herein (e.g., the method200 discussed below).

In one embodiment, the AS 104 may perform various functions oroperations as described herein, for example, the authentication of asender endpoint device and establishing a cellular network connection iftwo endpoints fall out of range of the open communications protocol, andthe like. In one embodiment, the DB 106 may store subscriber information(e.g., the subscriber's contact information, the subscriber's mobileendpoint telephone number, stored authentication token information,subscriber filters and the like.

In one embodiment, the communications network may include one or moreaccess networks (e.g., a cellular network, a wireless network, awireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi) network, a PSTN network, an IP network, andthe like) that are not shown to simplify FIG. 1. In one embodiment, thecommunications network 100 in FIG. 1 is simplified and it should benoted the communications network 100 may also include additional networkelements (not shown), such as for example, border elements, gateways,firewalls, routers, switches, call control elements, various applicationservers, and the like.

In one embodiment, the communications network 100 may include mobileendpoint devices 108 and 110. Although only two mobile endpoint devicesare illustrated in FIG. 1, it should be noted that any number of mobileendpoint devices may be deployed. In one embodiment, the mobile endpointdevice may be any mobile endpoint device, such as for example, a smartphone, a cellular telephone, a computing tablet, any mobile computingdevice having open communications protocol capability, and the like.

In one embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 108 may be referred to asa sender, a sender mobile endpoint device, a sender device, and thelike. In one embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 110 may be referredto as a recipient, a recipient mobile endpoint device, a recipientdevice, and the like. In one embodiment, the users of the mobileendpoint devices 108 and 110 may each also be a subscriber of a serviceprovider of the communications network 100 that may provide cellularnetwork communications services.

In one embodiment, the mobile endpoint devices 108 and 110 may alsocommunicate over an open communications protocol, such as for example,Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, near field communications protocol, other RFcommunications, Wi-Fi, infrared communications (e.g., IrDA), and thelike. In one embodiment, the open communications protocol may provide apersonal communication area network having a range 118 for the mobileendpoint device 108 and the personal communication area having a range120 for the mobile endpoint device 110.

In one embodiment, the mobile endpoint devices 108 and 110 may subscribeto services for establishing ad hoc communications with unknown contactsprovided by a service provider of the communications network 100. In oneembodiment, the mobile endpoint device 108 may be the sending device andhas signed up for an authentication token with the service provider ofthe communications network 100. In one embodiment, the authenticationtoken is stored on the mobile endpoint device 108 and in the DB 106.

In one embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 108 may also consent tobeing traceable, i.e., consenting to be identified if necessary orappropriate. For example, if the mobile endpoint device 108 is thesender device and is harassing the recipient device, or violating an enduser agreement of the service provider, the service provider may providethe contact information of the user associated with the mobile endpointdevice 108 (e.g., to the recipient device, to the proper authorities,and the like).

In one embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 110 may be the recipientdevice. In one embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 110 may pre-defineone or more message filters. The one or more message filters allow themobile endpoint device 110 to control what messages are received fromunknown contacts. For example, the filters may specify that the mobileendpoint device 110 only wants to receive messages about safety issues,only wants to receive messages that provide a telephone number of thesender, and the like.

The one or more message filters may also include publicly availableinformation that may identify the user of the mobile endpoint device110. For example, the publicly available information may include ageneral description of the user (e.g., Caucasian with short brown hair,tall Asian male with short black hair, etc.), a general description ofthe cars the user drives (e.g., Silver 2010 Honda Accord, Blue Ford F210pick up truck, etc.). In one embodiment, the description of the user maybe changed daily by the user to include a brief description of what theuser is wearing (e.g., blue sweater and blue jeans, white polo and khakitrousers, and the like). The publicly available information may be usedto allow an unknown contact to direct a message toward the recipientmobile endpoint device 110 as will be discussed below.

In one embodiment, a user of the mobile endpoint device 108 may bedriving up behind a vehicle being driven by a user of the mobileendpoint device 110. The user of the mobile endpoint device 108 may seean item in danger of falling out of the trunk of the vehicle driven bythe user of the mobile endpoint device 110. The user of the mobileendpoint device 108 may want to send the mobile endpoint device 110 amessage to warn him or her about the safety issue. However, the user ofthe mobile endpoint device 108 may not know the user of the mobileendpoint device 110. In other words, the user of the mobile endpointdevice 110 is an unknown contact to the user of the mobile endpointdevice 108.

In one embodiment, the range 118 of the open communications protocol ofthe mobile endpoint device 108 may be within the range 120 of the opencommunications protocol of the mobile endpoint device 110. For example,in FIG. 1, the open communications protocol coverage area of 118 and 120overlap so that the two mobile endpoint devices may communicate directlywith each other (e.g., device to device communication such as Bluetooth®or near field communication) without the need to access a networkservice such as cellular service or Wi-Fi service. For example, themobile endpoint device 108 may detect that the mobile endpoint device110 is within range and available to receive a message.

In one embodiment, a general message may be broadcast by the mobileendpoint device 108. The message may be received by any endpoint device(e.g., the mobile endpoint device 110) within the open communicationsprotocol coverage area of the mobile endpoint device 108 and anassumption that the mobile endpoint device 108 is a registeredsubscriber that can be identified may be used as an initial low level ofauthentication.

In another embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 108 may include amessage with some publically available identification of the mobileendpoint device 110 as described above with respect to the one or moremessage filters. For example, the mobile endpoint device 108 may see along blonde haired Caucasian woman wearing a red blouse and blue jeansthat has dropped her hat. The mobile endpoint device 108 may include ina heading of a message “long blonde haired Caucasian woman wearing redblouse and blue jeans” and in a body of the message “you dropped yourhat”. As a result, the mobile endpoint device 110 may accept the messageusing the message filter that describes the user.

In another embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 110 may display a barcode or a public device name that can be used to identify which signalis associated with the mobile endpoint device 110. For example, a barcode may be placed on a bumper of a car and the mobile endpoint device108 may scan the bar code and send a message to the mobile endpointdevice 110 in the car using the open short range communicationsprotocol.

In one embodiment, the first level of authentication may be based on theassumption that the mobile endpoint device 110 is a subscriber of aservice provider that can be tracked. Thus, the mobile endpoint device110 may respond immediately to the message using the initialauthentication without the need for authentication from the AS 104 inthe core network 102.

In another embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 110 may escalate theauthentication before choosing to respond or continue the communicationswith the mobile endpoint device 108. For example, in one embodiment, themobile endpoint device 108 may send a message and an authenticationtoken to the mobile endpoint device 110 indicating that there is apotential safety issue. As noted above, the mobile endpoint device 110could respond immediately. However, the mobile endpoint device 110 couldescalate the authentication using the authentication token.

For example, the mobile endpoint device 110 may receive a notificationthat an unknown contact is attempting to send a message to the mobileendpoint device 110. In one embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 110may send the received authentication token to the communications networkservice provider to verify that the authentication token is valid. Inone embodiment, any authentication protocol may be used to perform theauthentication (e.g., Open ID, OAUTH, and the like). For example, thecommunications network service provider may verify that the sendingdevice is a traceable subscriber, i.e., a subscriber who can beidentified and/or authenticated. Notably, the authentication isperformed on-line.

In one embodiment, if the sending device is authenticated, the mobileendpoint device 110 may apply a message filter. For example, since themessage is related to a safety message the mobile endpoint device 110may wish to establish an ad hoc communication with the mobile endpointdevice 108 immediately via the open communications protocol.

In another embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 110 may not besatisfied with the level of authentication provided by theauthentication token. As a result, the mobile endpoint device 110 mayrequest an additional level of authentication. For example, the nextlevel authentication may be to provide a telephone number of the mobileendpoint device 108. If the telephone number does not satisfy the levelof authentication required by the mobile endpoint device 110, the mobileendpoint device 108 may send a name of the user of the mobile endpointdevice 108, and so forth until a level of authentication is accepted bythe mobile endpoint device 110.

In one embodiment, the vehicles may drift apart with one another suchthat the ranges 118 and 120 of the open communications protocol coveragearea of the mobile endpoint devices 108 and 110 no longer overlap. As aresult, either the mobile endpoint device 108 or the mobile endpointdevice 110 may request to the communications network 100 to continue thead hoc communication over an access network, e.g., the cellular network,of the communications network 100.

In one embodiment, the mobile endpoint device 110 may send a request tothe communications network 100 to continue the ad hoc communication. TheAS 104 may send a one-time use telephone number to the mobile endpointdevice 108 such that the identity and contact information of the mobileendpoint device 110 remain unknown to the user of the mobile endpointdevice 108. The mobile endpoint device 108 may continue the ad hoccommunication by calling the one-time use telephone number and thecommunications network (e.g., the AS 104) may establish a cellularnetwork connection between the mobile endpoint device 108 and the mobileendpoint device 110. In one embodiment, the one-time use telephonenumber may be available for a pre-defined period of time (e.g., 1 hour,1 day, and the like).

In another embodiment, the AS 104 may call each of the mobile endpointdevices 108 and 110 while blocking the caller identification number foranonymity, if needed. After both mobile endpoint devices 108 and 110answer the call, the AS 104 may combine each call so the mobile endpointdevices 108 and 110 may have direct duplex communications. In otherwords, the mobile endpoint devices 108 and 110 may not need to dial theone-time user telephone number to continue communications.

In one embodiment, other forms of communications may be used to continuethe communications when the mobile endpoint devices 108 and 110 fall outof range of the open communications protocol coverage area. For example,masked session initiation protocol (SIP) addresses or masked emailaddresses may be used to establish a two-way SIP communication sessionor an exchange of email messages.

In one embodiment, if the mobile endpoint device 108 violates a useragreement regarding the type of messaging that is allowed to be sent tothe mobile endpoint device 110 (e.g., an offensive message, a harassingmessage or simply a large number of unwanted messages, and the like),the mobile endpoint device 110 may request the communications networkservice provider to provide contact information or identification of theuser of the mobile endpoint device 108. In another embodiment, thecontact information may be provided to a third party or authority (e.g.,the police).

As a result, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a methodfor two users who do not know one another to establish an ad hoccommunication via an open communications protocol. Thus, users mayprovide various types of messages (e.g., a safety message, a warningmessage, a personal message, and the like) to an unknown contact.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method 200 for establishing an adhoc communication with an unknown contact. In one embodiment, the method200 may be performed by the AS 104 or a general purpose computer asillustrated in FIG. 5 and discussed below.

The method 200 begins at step 202. At step 204, the method 200 receivesan authentication token from a recipient endpoint device forauthentication of an unsolicited message received from a sender endpointdevice, wherein the recipient endpoint device is an unknown contact tothe sender endpoint device and the unsolicited message is sent over anopen communications protocol.

For example, the user of the sender device may see a safety issuerelated to a vehicle being driven by the user of the recipient device.However, the user of the recipient device may be an unknown contactrelative to the user of the sender device. Both the sender device andthe recipient device may pre-register with the service provider of thecommunication network to subscribe to an ad hoc communication servicewith unknown contacts.

In one scenario, the sender device may come within range of therecipient device to allow broadcasting of a signal using an opencommunications protocol (e.g., Bluetooth®, ZigBee®, near fieldcommunications other RF communications, Wi-Fi, infrared communications(e.g., IrDA), and the like). The sender device may then send apre-defined message or a personal message to the recipient device withan authentication. In one embodiment, the authentication may be anauthentication token that was obtained in advance during theregistration with the service provider of the communications network.

At step 206, the method 200 authenticates the authentication token. Inone embodiment, the authentication token may be received from therecipient device that was received from the sender device forverification. Any type of authentication communications protocol may beused for the authentication (e.g., Open ID, OAUTH, and the like). In oneembodiment, the AS in the communications network may compare thecredentials of the authentication token with a copy of theauthentication token stored in the DB 106.

At step 208, the method 200 sends a confirmation that the authenticationtoken is authenticated to the recipient endpoint device to allow therecipient endpoint device to establish a connection to the senderendpoint device to begin the ad hoc communication. In one embodiment, ifthe credentials of the authentication token match the credentials of theauthentication token stored in the DB, then the communications networkmay confirm that the sender device is authenticated and send therecipient device a confirmation message. The recipient device may thenestablish an ad hoc communication with the sender device. The method 200ends at step 210.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method 300 for establishing an adhoc communications with an unknown contact. In one embodiment, themethod 300 may be performed by the recipient endpoint device or ageneral purpose computer as illustrated in FIG. 5 and discussed below.

The method 300 begins at step 302. At step 304, the method 300broadcasts that an endpoint device is available to receive an ad hoccommunication over an open communication protocol. For example, using anopen communications protocol, such as for example, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®,near field communications other RF communications, Wi-Fi, infraredcommunications (e.g., IrDA), and the like, the recipient device may senda signal indicating that the recipient device is currently open toreceiving messages from unknown contacts.

At step 306, the method 300 receives a message and an authenticationfrom an unknown contact over the open communications protocol. In oneembodiment, a sending device may identify the recipient device frompublicly available information (e.g., a description of a user of therecipient device or a car driven by the user of the recipient device)and send the message and the authentication to the recipient device overthe open communications protocol.

In one embodiment, the message may be a pre-defined message. Forexample, the messages may be a general pre-written message in one of aplurality of different categories. For example, the categories couldinclude safety, greeting, warning, and the like. In another embodiment,the message may be a personalized message.

At step 308, the method 300 determines based on the message and theauthentication to accept the message from the unknown contact over theopen communications protocol. In one embodiment, the authentication maybe an authentication token. The authentication token may be sent to thecommunications network for verification using any type of authenticationprotocol (e.g., Open ID, OAUTH, and the like).

In another embodiment, the recipient device may require additionalauthentication. For example, the authentication token may only signifythat the sending device is a traceable subscriber of the serviceprovider communications network. However, the recipient device may wantmore authentication credentials before receiving the message fordisplay. For example, the recipient device may require a contact username. The authentication request may continue to escalate between thesender device and the recipient device until the recipient deviceobtains a desired level of authentication.

In one embodiment, a message filter may be applied to the message. Forexample, the message filter may make sure that the received message isintended for the recipient based upon an included description in aheader of the message. In addition, the message filter may specify thatthe recipient device may only want a pre-defined message and no personalmessages. As a result, if the message is a personalized message themessage may not be accepted even if the sender device is authenticated.

At step 310, the method 300 establishes the ad hoc communication withthe unknown contact. For example, if the sender device is authenticatedand the message filter does not filter out the incoming message, therecipient device may establish the ad hoc communication with the unknowncontact using the open communications protocol.

In one embodiment, if the recipient device moves out of range of theopen communications protocol from the sender device, the recipientdevice may send a request to the communications network to continue thead hoc communication using a cellular network of the communicationsnetwork service provider. The communications network may establish thecellular network connection knowing the mobile telephone number of thesender device and the recipient device and may also provide a one-timedisposable or temporary telephone number to the sender device and therecipient device. The one-time disposable or temporary telephone numbermay be provided to allow the sender device and the recipient device toremain unknown or anomalous to each other. The method 300 ends at step312.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method 400 for establishing an adhoc communication with an unknown contact. In one embodiment, the method400 may be performed by the sending endpoint device or a general purposecomputer as illustrated in FIG. 5 and discussed below.

The method 400 begins at step 402. At step 404, the method identifies anavailable unknown contact within range of an open communicationsprotocol that is ready to receive a message. For example, using an opencommunications protocol, such as for example, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, nearfield communications other RF communications, Wi-Fi, infraredcommunications (e.g., IrDA), and the like, the recipient device may senda signal indicating that the recipient device is open to receivingmessages from unknown contacts.

At step 406, the method 400 sends a message and an authentication to theavailable unknown contact. In one embodiment, a sending device mayidentify the recipient device from publicly available information (e.g.,a description of a user of the recipient device or a car driven by theuser of the recipient device) and send the message and theauthentication to the recipient device over the open communicationsprotocol. In one embodiment, the authentication may be an authenticationtoken. The authentication token may be subsequently sent to thecommunications network for verification by the recipient device.

In one embodiment, the message may be a pre-defined message. Forexample, the messages may be a general pre-written message in one of aplurality of different categories. For example, the categories couldinclude safety, greeting, warning, and the like. In another embodiment,the message may be a personalized message.

In another embodiment, the recipient device may require additionalauthentication. For example, the authentication token may only signifythat the sending device is a traceable subscriber of the serviceprovider communications network. However, the recipient device may wantmore authentication credentials before receiving the message. Forexample, the recipient device may require a contact user name. Theauthentication requests may continue to escalate between the senderdevice and the recipient device until the recipient device obtains adesired level of authentication.

At step 408, the method 400 receives a confirmation that the availableunknown contact has accepted the message. For example, if theauthentication sent by the sender device is verified by thecommunications network, the message is identified as a message intendedfor the recipient device based upon a description in a header of themesage and the message is an acceptable type of message based upon amessage filter of the recipient device, the sender device may receive aconfirmation from the recipient device that the message is accepted orbeing accepted by the recipient device.

At step 410, the method 400 establishes the ad hoc communication withthe unknown contact. For example, if the sender device is authenticatedand the message filter does not filter out the incoming message, thesender device may establish the ad hoc communication with the unknowncontact using the open communications protocol.

In one embodiment, if the sender device moves out of range of the opencommunications protocol with the recipient device, the sender device maysend a request to the communications network to continue the ad hoccommunication using a cellular network of the communications networkservice provider. The communications network may establish the cellularnetwork connection knowing the mobile telephone number of the senderdevice and the recipient device and may also provide a one-timedisposable or temporary telephone number to the sender device and therecipient device. The one-time disposable or temporary telephone numbermay be provided to allow the sender device and the recipient device toremain unknown to each other, thereby protecting the privacy of bothparties. The method 400 ends at step 412.

It should be noted that although not explicitly specified, one or moresteps or operations of the methods 200-400 described above may include astoring, displaying and/or outputting step as required for a particularapplication. In other words, any data, records, fields, and/orintermediate results discussed in the methods can be stored, displayed,and/or outputted to another device as required for a particularapplication. Furthermore, steps, operations or blocks in FIGS. 2-4 thatrecite a determining operation, or involve a decision, do notnecessarily require that both branches of the determining operation bepracticed. In other words, one of the branches of the determiningoperation can be deemed as an optional step.

FIG. 5 depicts a high-level block diagram of a general-purpose computersuitable for use in performing the functions described herein. Asdepicted in FIG. 5, the system 500 comprises one or more hardwareprocessor elements 502 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), amicroprocessor, or a multi-core processor), a memory 504, e.g., randomaccess memory (RAM) and/or read only memory (ROM), a module 505 forestablishing an ad hoc communication with an unknown contact, andvarious input/output devices 506 (e.g., storage devices, including butnot limited to, a tape drive, a floppy drive, a hard disk drive or acompact disk drive, a receiver, a transmitter, a speaker, a display, aspeech synthesizer, an output port, an input port and a user inputdevice (such as a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a microphone and thelike)). Although only one processor element is shown, it should be notedthat the general-purpose computer may employ a plurality of processorelements. Furthermore, although only one general-purpose computer isshown in the figure, if the method(s) as discussed above is implementedin a distributed or parallel manner for a particular illustrativeexample, i.e., the steps of the above method(s) or the entire method(s)are implemented across multiple or parallel general-purpose computers,then the general-purpose computer of this figure is intended torepresent each of those multiple general-purpose computers. Furthermore,one or more hardware processors can be utilized in supporting avirtualized or shared computing environment. The virtualized computingenvironment may support one or more virtual machines representingcomputers, servers, or other computing devices. In such virtualizedvirtual machines, hardware components such as hardware processors andcomputer-readable storage devices may be virtualized or logicallyrepresented.

It should be noted that the present disclosure can be implemented insoftware and/or in a combination of software and hardware, e.g., usingapplication specific integrated circuits (ASIC), a programmable logicarray (PLA), including a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or astate machine deployed on a hardware device, a general purpose computeror any other hardware equivalents, e.g., computer readable instructionspertaining to the method(s) discussed above can be used to configure ahardware processor to perform the steps, functions and/or operations ofthe above disclosed methods. In one embodiment, instructions and datafor the present module or process 505 for establishing an ad hoccommunication with an unknown contact (e.g., a software programcomprising computer-executable instructions) can be loaded into memory504 and executed by hardware processor element 502 to implement thesteps, functions or operations as discussed above in connection with theexemplary methods 200-400. Furthermore, when a hardware processorexecutes instructions to perform “operations”, this could include thehardware processor performing the operations directly and/orfacilitating, directing, or cooperating with another hardware device orcomponent (e.g., a co-processor and the like) to perform the operations.

The processor executing the computer readable or software instructionsrelating to the above described method(s) can be perceived as aprogrammed processor or a specialized processor. As such, the presentmodule 505 for establishing an ad hoc communication with an unknowncontact (including associated data structures) of the present disclosurecan be stored on a tangible or physical (broadly non-transitory)computer-readable storage device or medium, e.g., volatile memory,non-volatile memory, ROM memory, RAM memory, magnetic or optical drive,device or diskette and the like. More specifically, thecomputer-readable storage device may comprise any physical devices thatprovide the ability to store information such as data and/orinstructions to be accessed by a processor or a computing device such asa computer or an application server.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of a preferred embodiment shouldnot be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, butshould be defined only in accordance with the following claims and theirequivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, by aserver, an anonymous communication request sent from a mobile device,the anonymous communication request requesting an anonymouscommunication between the mobile device and an unknown contact at adifferent mobile device, wherein the receiving the anonymouscommunication request is responsive to an ad hoc communication session,previously established between the mobile device and the differentmobile device, being impacted due to a distance between the mobiledevice and the different mobile device exceeding a coverage range of anopen short range communication protocol of the ad hoc communicationsession, and wherein the ad hoc communication session is previouslyestablished between the mobile device and the different mobile devicebased on an unsolicited message transmitted from the different mobiledevice to the mobile device; assigning, by the server, a one-time usetelephone number to the anonymous communication between the mobiledevice and the different mobile device; and sending, by the server, theone-time use telephone number to the mobile device, wherein the sendingthe one-time use telephone number to the mobile device enables themobile device to initiate the anonymous communication over a cellularnetwork as a continuation of the ad hoc communication session with thedifferent mobile device, wherein the ad hoc communication session ispreviously established while maintaining anonymity of a user of themobile device, wherein the unsolicited message includes firstinformation identifying a vehicle of the user of the mobile device orsecond information identifying a physical description of the user of themobile device, and wherein the one-time use telephone number enables themobile device to initiate the anonymous communication while maintaininganonymity of the unknown contact at the different mobile device.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising determining a name associated withthe mobile device.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining a name associated with the mobile device or the differentmobile device.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determininga name associated with the unknown contact.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising receiving an identifier associated with the differentmobile device.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving anidentifier associated with the mobile device.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising receiving an identifier associated with the unknowncontact.
 8. A system, comprising: a hardware processor; and a memorydevice, the memory device storing instructions, the instructions whenexecuted causing the hardware processor to perform operations, theoperations comprising: receiving an anonymous communication request sentfrom a mobile device, the anonymous communication request requesting ananonymous communication between the mobile device and an unknown contactat a different mobile device, wherein the receiving the anonymouscommunication request is responsive to an ad hoc communication session,previously established between the mobile device and the differentmobile device, being impacted due to a distance between the mobiledevice and the different mobile device exceeding a coverage range of anopen short range communication protocol of the ad hoc communicationsession, and wherein the ad hoc communication session is previouslyestablished between the mobile device and the different mobile devicebased on an unsolicited message transmitted from the different mobiledevice to the mobile device; assigning a one-time use mobile number tothe different mobile device; and sending the one-time use mobile numberto the mobile device, wherein the sending the one-time use mobile numberto the mobile device enables the mobile device to initiate the anonymouscommunication with the unknown contact at the different mobile deviceover a cellular network as a continuation of the ad hoc communicationsession with the different mobile device, wherein the ad hoccommunication session is previously established while maintaininganonymity of a user of the mobile device, wherein the unsolicitedmessage includes first information identifying a vehicle of the user ofthe mobile device or second information identifying a physicaldescription of the user of the mobile device, and wherein the one-timeuse mobile number enables the mobile device to initiate the anonymouscommunication while maintaining anonymity of the unknown contact at thedifferent mobile device.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein theoperations further comprise determining a name associated with themobile device.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations furthercomprise determining a name associated with the mobile device or thedifferent mobile device.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein theoperations further comprise determining a name associated with theunknown contact.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein the operationsfurther comprise receiving an identifier associated with the differentmobile device.
 13. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations furthercomprise receiving an identifier associated with the mobile device. 14.The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise receivingan identifier associated with the unknown contact.
 15. A memory devicestoring instructions that when executed cause a hardware processor toperform operations, the operations comprising: receiving an anonymouscommunication request requesting an anonymous communication between amobile device and an unknown contact at a different mobile device,wherein the receiving the anonymous communication request is responsiveto an ad hoc communication session, previously established between themobile device and the different mobile device, being impacted due to adistance between the mobile device and the different mobile deviceexceeding a coverage range of an open short range communication protocolof the ad hoc communication session, and wherein the ad hoccommunication session is previously established between the mobiledevice and the different mobile device based on an unsolicited messagetransmitted from the different mobile device to the mobile device;assigning a one-time use mobile number to the anonymous communicationbetween the mobile device and the different mobile device; and sendingthe one-time use mobile number to the mobile device, wherein the sendingthe one-time use mobile number to the mobile device enables the mobiledevice to initiate the anonymous communication with the unknown contactat the different mobile device over a cellular network as a continuationof the ad hoc communication session with the different mobile device,wherein the ad hoc communication session is previously established whilemaintaining anonymity of a user of the mobile device, wherein theunsolicited message includes first information identifying a vehicle ofthe user of the mobile device or second information identifying aphysical description of the user of the mobile device, and wherein theone-time use mobile number enables the mobile device to initiate theanonymous communication while maintaining anonymity of the unknowncontact at the different mobile device.
 16. The memory device of claim15, wherein the operations further comprise determining a nameassociated with the different mobile device.
 17. The memory device ofclaim 15, wherein the operations further comprise determining a nameassociated with the different mobile device or the unknown contact. 18.The memory device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprisereceiving an identifier associated with the different mobile device. 19.The memory device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprisereceiving an identifier associated with the mobile device.
 20. Thememory device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprisereceiving an identifier associated with the unknown contact.